DARING BAKERS OCTOBER 2011 CHALLENGE – Povitica

The Daring Baker’s October 2011 challenge was Povitica, hosted by Jenni of The Gingered Whisk. Povitica is a traditional Eastern European Dessert Bread that is as lovely to look at as it is to eat!

I was so thrilled with the Daring Baker’s October challenge recipe – Povitica! Funnily I had seen a recipe for Potica (another name for Povitica, I think) in my copy of a “Baker’s Odyssey” and bookmarked it. The Baker’s Odyssey recipe was only slightly different to the challenge recipe in that it uses honey and egg whites in the filling similar to our previous challenge of the Yeasted Meringue Coffee cake.

I love that this challenge recipe used everyday ingredients to create something special. I had a packet of walnuts in the pantry but only enough for 1 loaf. I remembered the dried apricots I had and the almond meal in the freezer. The apricots were simmered with water, drained and whizz in the food processor with almond meal, an egg, sugar, Amaretto liquor and a few drops of almond essence.

The dough was very sticky. I used all the flour (of the half batch recipe) and made the dough in my mixer. This is not a good photo but I wanted to show the texture of the dough.

I floured a cloth and rolled the dough quite thin then stretch it a bit – it barely took 5 minutes. I did wonder at the time if I had stretch it too thinly as I was treating it like a strudel dough.

The dough is beautiful to roll out.

I found spreading the filling more difficult as it was thick and sticky – I made a quarter recipe but used a whole egg (didn’t want more whites in my freezer) then added a bit more milk. The pic in the challenge show an almost honey like filling mine was more peanut butter-like thickness. I found a offset palate knife help to spread the filling.

I used the cloth to help roll up the dough, brushing off excess flour as I rolled.

I allowed the dough to rise longer than the 15 minutes as I knew my family would prefer a lighter loaf and not the dense loaf this was meant to be.

The Apricot Almond loaf was yummy with a tart bite.

The resulting Walnut loaf smells amazing and taste delicious. I love the swirls! This recipe is a keeper!

To Activate Yeast:1. In a small bowl, stir 2 teaspoons sugar, 1 teaspoon flour, and the yeast into ½ cup warm water and cover with plastic wrap.
2. Allow to stand for 5 minutes

To Make the Dough:3. In a medium saucepan, heat the milk up to just below boiling (about 180°F/82°C), stirring constantly so that a film does not form on the top of the milk. You want it hot enough to scald you, but not boiling. Allow to cool slightly, until it is about 110°F/43°C.
4. In a large bowl, mix the scalded milk, ¾ cup (180 gm/170 gm/6 oz) sugar, and the salt until combined.
5. Add the beaten eggs, yeast mixture, melted butter, and 2 cups (480 ml/280 gm/10 oz) of flour.
6. Blend thoroughly and slowly add remaining flour, mixing well until the dough starts to clean the bowl
7. Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead, gradually adding flour a little at a time, until smooth and does not stick.
8. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces (they will each weight about 1.25 pounds/565 grams)
9. Place dough in 4 lightly oiled bowls, cover loosely with a layer of plastic wrap and then a kitchen towel and let rise an hour and a half in a warm place, until doubled in sizeTo Make the Filling10. In a large bowl mix together the ground walnuts, sugar, cinnamon and cocoa.
11. Heat the milk and butter to boiling.
12. Pour the liquid over the nut/sugar mixture.
13. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly.
14. Allow to stand at room temperature until ready to be spread on the dough.
15. If the mixture thickens, add a small amount of warm milk.To Roll and Assemble the Dough:16. Spread a clean sheet or cloth over your entire table so that it is covered.
17. Sprinkle with a couple of tablespoons to a handful of flour (use flour sparingly)

20. Using the tops of your hands, stretch dough out from the center until the dough is thin and uniformly opaque. You can also use your rolling pin, if you prefer.
21. As you work, continually pick up the dough from the table, not only to help in stretching it out, but also to make sure that it isn’t sticking.
22. When you think it the dough is thin enough, try to get it a little thinner. It should be so thin that you can see the color and perhaps the pattern of the sheet underneath
23. Spoon filling (see below for recipe) evenly over dough until covered
24. Lift the edge of the cloth and gently roll the dough like a jelly roll.
25. Once the dough is rolled up into a rope, gently lift it up and place it into a greased loaf pan in the shape of a “U”, with the ends meeting in the middle. You want to coil the dough around itself, as this will give the dough its characteristic look when sliced26. Repeat with remaining three loaves, coiling each rope of dough in its own loaf pan.
27. Brush the top of each loaf with a mixture of ½ cup (120 ml) of cold STRONG coffee and 2 tablespoons (30ml/28 gm/1 oz) of sugar. If you prefer, you can also use egg whites in place of this.
28. Cover pans lightly will plastic wrap and allow to rest for approximately 15 minutes.
29. Preheat oven to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4.
30. Remove plastic wrap from dough and place into the preheated oven and bake for approximately 15 minutes.
31. Turn down the oven temperature to slow 300°F/150°C/gas mark 2 and bake for an additional 45 minutes, or until done.
32. Remove bread from oven and brush with melted butter.
33. Check the bread at 30 minutes to ensure that the bread is not getting too brown. You may cover the loaves with a sheet of aluminum foil if you need to.
34. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for 20-30 minutes, still in the bread pan. Remember, the bread weighs about 2.5 and it needs to be able to hold its own weight, which is difficult when still warm and fresh out of the oven. Allowing it to cool in the pan helps the loaf to hold its shape.
35. It is recommended that the best way to cut Povitica loaves into slices is by turning the loaf upside down and slicing with a serrated knife

Jenni, thank you so much for this brilliant recipe! I was going to try the Baker’s Odyssey recipe but I don’t think I will. This is a recipe I can’t go past! Really very good!!!

In my area of the world this type of bread is not seen. I am thrilled to be introduced to a fantastic Eastern European recipe!

I remember reading your comment in the forum when you said the recipe was great and needed no changes, and I totally trusted you and followed it to a T. You were completely right! Your Povitica looks awesome! Beautiful job, as always 🙂

Beautiful work, Marcellina! I greased my pan with lots of butter, but it still stuck a little – yours appears to have come out cleanly. Apricot filling sounds amazing, and I agree that it is a keeper of a recipe!